Wireless access nodes, such a cellular base stations, exchange wireless communications with mobile devices to provide the mobile devices with access to wireless communication networks. Wireless access nodes communicate with mobile devices using an amount of bandwidth allocated to each mobile device. Bandwidth is the amount of data that can be delivered over a communication link during a given amount of time. A wireless access node has a limited amount of data communication bandwidth that can be allocated between mobile devices. Therefore, as more mobile devices receive bandwidth allocations on the wireless access node, each mobile device receives a lower share of the total bandwidth available through the wireless access node.
One particular way to allocate bandwidth between mobile devices involves the proportional fairness algorithm. The proportional fairness algorithm allocates bandwidth between mobile devices based on the projected bandwidth usage of each device. This projection allows a mobile device that is using bandwidth in short bursts to be allocated more bandwidth for those short bursts while other mobile device are using data bandwidth more consistently. For example, a mobile device that is browsing the web would receive more bandwidth during page loads than a mobile device that is streaming media content. Consequently, a mobile device that is streaming media over the network is allocated less bandwidth relative to the amount of bandwidth allocated to a mobile device that may be engaged in excessive burst data usage, such as uncharacteristically frequent web page loads or a burst data attack on the network.